The transmission shop charged me $85 dollars for nothing?!?

(2010-05-30 12:51:09)

1. James Says: This transmission shop charged me $85 to diagnose my car, right?

The guy said it was the alternator and a dead battery, and that he would fix it.

However, my dad (who used to work on cars and knows a lot about cars) replaced my old alternator with a brand new one AND he got me a new battery as well.

Now, however, my car runs A LOT better, but the D4 light is still blinking and it still jerks hard when I go in reverse. I had to drive in second gear.

Basically, the transmission shop lied to me, right? It took them 90 minutes and $85 of my own money for them to diagnose the problem and yet they didn't obviously diagnose it right.

Should I go down there and tell them what's what or...what? I'm confused here.

Do you think they tried to take advantage of me or what?

Also, does anyone know what's wrong with my car?

2. LT Says: I do wonder, if your Dad knows so much about cars... why couldn't he diagnose the problem/problems. You took it in for them to look at... if they were right or wrong why do you think they should do it for free? They did not take advantage of you and If your Dad know so much he is the one taking advantage of you... he should know what the problem most likely is. If I could see the car, by what you said I bet I could at least be 80% right in what I think is wrong by just looking at/driving it.

3. LeAnne Says: I don't know what the original concerns were - it's not unusual for a vehicle's alternator to go out, or the battery.
I doubt that either had a role in your vehicle jerking hard in reverse or the need to drive it in second gear.
You need to get these symptoms properly diagnosed.

4. Roy Says: It is hard to say that they lied to you, there is always room for a mistake. but idk. I do know that I would go there and tell them they didn't check your transmission and let them test drive it. I would take the reciept so they do not charge you the 85 dollars again. They should inspect it for free. If they dont, raise hell! It sounds like you have a bad sensor

5. Vipassana Says: So, here's the actual situation.

You don't know anything about cars.

You took it to someone who does, and they found something wrong with the car.

You had it fixed, and lo and behold, it fixed something on your car.

And now you're mad that there's something else wrong with the car.....

But you still don't know anything about cars, so you don't know what.

Here's the problem. They identified a problem, correctly, and you paid them for that service.

There was NO WRONG done.

It didn't fix your transmission, but it did fix a problem. So, that means there's multiple things wrong with your car. Which means it's going to take a lot more than $85 to track it all down.

6. bandit_60 Says: they did,nt lie to you. they said it was the alternator and the battery so your dad put those things on and it ran better but you have another problem you did,nt address to them and it was the jerking in reverse. if it jerks when you put it in reverse then probably the linkage needs adjusted.

7. I fink Says: As you say,your car runs a LOT better so the garage has done some good.Maybe if they had done the job with the alternator and battery they would have picked up on the other problems and sorted them.
Have you checked the fluid and the cable adjustment?.The fluid level is usually checked with the engine running.

8. Chris Says: Vipassana FOR.THE.WIN.

With that $85, you're buying basically an hour of the tech's time to figure out what's wrong, just like at the doctor's office you're scheduling whatever amount of time with him to diagnose YOU. He found a problem and fixed it. There's another problem. Yeah, it happens. It sucks. I'd say it's entirely possible the battery and alternator fixed it for a short time, enough for the shop to call it fixed. You have multiple problems. You're not being ripped off, except maybe by your dad who is already training you to distrust every mechanic you lay eyes on. We love that.